June 1, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



855 



large extent they were rigidly special, confined 

 to certain restricted departments of science, 

 mainly physical. There were a certain num- 

 ber of chemical exhibits, and a few — some of 

 them specially interesting — in the domain of 

 biology. There was much that was fasci- 

 nating and in some cases almost oppressively 

 suggestive. As might have been expected, 

 Professor Milne was prepared to exhibit some 

 of his remarkably instructive seismograms of 

 the recent earthquakes which have been so 

 numerous and wide-spread. The diagrams 

 which he showed related to the Formosa earth- 

 quake of March 16, the Californian earth- 

 quake of April 18, and the Columbian earth- 

 quake of January 31 of this year. Other 

 similar records were exhibited by the Royal 

 Observatory, Edinburgh, from various parts 

 of the world. Another interesting series of 

 records was that from the Meteorological 

 Office, consisting of charts and diagrams 

 showing some of the physical, meteorological 

 and other results of the National Antarctic 

 Expedition. Many of the exhibits which may 

 be classed as physical were of an optical, 

 spectroscopic and photographic character. 

 Dr. W. Marshall Watts's exliibit of a binocu- 

 lar spectroscope, which might otherwise be 

 described as a spectroscopic opera-glass, by 

 means of which both eyes may be used in 

 spectroscopic work, constituted a new depar- 

 ture. Of special interest in connection with 

 the recent mining disasters in France were 

 the oxygen rescue apparatus and other appli- 

 ances shown by Messrs. Wallach Brothers, 

 used by the rescue parties at Courrieres. It 

 is known as the ' Evertrusty ' oxygen appa- 

 ratus, and an adaptation of it may be used 

 in case of carbonic-oxide poisoning and after 

 inhalation of poisonous fumes, etc. Mr. C. 

 V. Boys's gas calorimeter, a somewhat com- 

 plicated but ingenious arrangement, must 

 have interested many, as it is the instrument 

 by which London gas is officially tested. From 

 the Solar Physics Observatory at South Ken- 

 sington came various eclipse photographs, 

 stellar spectra, barometric curves and photo- 

 graphs and diagrams illustrating the work 

 done on the orientation of some British stone 

 circles, also some barometric curves in differ- 



ent parts of the world, which seem to suggest 

 a key to the apparent difference of periods. 

 Some very interesting photographs of the 

 solar corona, taken in Spain on the occasion 

 of the eclipse of August 30, 1905, were shown 

 by the Rev. A. L. Cortie. Another interest- 

 ing astronomical exhibit, sent by the Royal 

 Astronomical Society, consisted of six remark- 

 ably brilliant photographs of the Milky Way, 

 taken in 1905 by Professor Barnard at Mount 

 Wilson, California. The specimens of color 

 photographs and photomicrographs, shown by 

 Mr. Edwin Edser and Mr. Edgar Senior, 

 were wonderfully beautiful specimens of this 

 process. 



Another notable exhibit was Mr. W. Dud- 

 dell's mechanical and electrical phenomena 

 occurring in the telephonic transmission of 

 speech, which was an attempt to show the 

 various phenomena which take place between 

 the transmission and reception of a telephonic 

 message; the difference in the vibrations 

 caused by the sounds of the different vowels 

 was most striking. Worthy of inspection was 

 Professor George Forbes's model of naval 

 gun sight, giving correct elevation for any 

 variations of muzzle velocity, air density and 

 time of flight, as arranged for the six-inch 

 B. L. gun, Mark XI., under construction at 

 Elswick, for trial in H. M. S. Africa. Mr. 

 W. Rosenhain's improved metallurgical mi- 

 croscope, of somewhat complicated construc- 

 tion, is likely to be of practical value, as also 

 Sir James Dewar's metallic jacketed vacuum 

 vessels, filled with liquid air, the vacuum be- 

 ing produced by the use of cooled charcoal. 

 The series of picrates of Dr. Silberrad and 

 Mr. Phillips was of interest as the salts of 

 picric acid have been the probable cause of 

 some of the most disastrous lyddite explosions 

 on record. Many of the specimens exhibited 

 were in many cases prepared in the course of 

 exhaustive investigations recently carried out 

 at the research laboratories of the Royal 

 Arsenal. Mr. E. G. Rivers's new electric 

 heater deserves attention as an entire depart- 

 ure from the principle of construction usually 

 adopted, the object being to secure a large 

 heating surface at a moderate temperature. 

 Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr. Alexander Muirhead 



